However, be aware that both games are designed so you 'build your resources' in between missions to help with the plots, as in, it will be very hard to complete the plots by flying just the ships the plots are handing to you as the (few) rewards. If you like to do plots, then you should start with X3TC first. The user interface elements (maps, etc) are bigger.
X3AP has war sectors, and ships have been retuned for war (they are a bit tougher, and they appear in much larger fleets complete with full escorts). The user interface, while similar, has smaller windows than X3AP. There are no war sectors, and Pirate or other enemy responses aren't as strong as in AP. X3TC has more (and lengthier plots), and also corporations that you can do missions for, in order to get rare ships. AP is kind-of an expansion to TC, but only in the sense that it's a different game that uses some of the files and models that TC has.īoth TC and AP are played (typically) over months you have different start scenarios (most you start of penniless, some merely 'poor') and you make whatever you want out of the galaxy (over a period of several months).īut you can consider X3AP to be a separate game from X3TC (your old character is dead, and a new character has to start from scratch all over again).
Your empire doesn't get transferred from TC to AP.
